Don't like RIS

[bk0]

I did the Brewers Best RIS kit a few months back. Well I've decided I don't like it. It has some nice chocolate notes but otherwise it's thick and syrupy with a lot of residual sweetness. I feel like it would need a lot more alcohol to balance out that sweetness. Right now its around 7% I think.

If I could go back in time I would leave out the maltodextrin (yuck), add several pounds of table sugar for more ABV and use a more attenuative yeast.

The question now is what to do with it? I don't want to give it away because it isn't representative of what I brew usually.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Drink it, pitch it, give it away or distill it is about your only options assuming it is bottled and you are drinking it. If it is still in the fermenter you could add some corn sugar to it to help thin out the body and get some more ABV.

 

[sweed]

Only 7%? Did you make a yeast starter? What was the OG and FG?
I'm brewing an RIS right now, and I made it up while referring to a few of them. It's high gravity ( hopefully 10%) so I made a few starters for it!

 

[bk0]

Just checked my notes. OG was 1.092 (I added 1.5 lbs of extra DME) and FG was 1.040 (!). I think at least part of the problem is I stupidly pitched the wort on top of a Windsor cake. It's the last time I'll ever use that yeast.

At this point I'm thinking I'll just cook with the stuff. It's like syrup.

 

[permo]

Just checked my notes. OG was 1.092 (I added 1.5 lbs of extra DME) and FG was 1.040 (!). I think at least part of the problem is I stupidly pitched the wort on top of a Windsor cake. It's the last time I'll ever use that yeast.

At this point I'm thinking I'll just cook with the stuff. It's like syrup.

Did you bottle it? You could have some bottle bombs on your hands...

 

[bk0]

Yeah it's bottled. It sat on the yeast for 4 weeks so I'd say fermentation is as done as it's ever going to be.

 

[permo]

Yeah it's bottled. It sat on the yeast for 4 weeks so I'd say fermentation is as done as it's ever going to be.

Wierd, you would think a yeast cake would tear through all that maltose. Oh well, make some BBQ sauce out of it? ! Glaze a ham with it?!

 

[mewithstewpid]

Agree use it for cooking. Throw it in the slow cooker with pork or brisket.

 

[Calder]

Just checked my notes. OG was 1.092 and FG was 1.040 (!). I pitched the wort on top of a Windsor cake. It's the last time I'll ever use that yeast.

At this point I'm thinking I'll just cook with the stuff. It's like syrup.

Why would you even think of bottling something at 1.040. I start questioning my fermentation if it doesn't reach 1.010, and I've never bottled anything over 1.020 (probably a lot less).

Windsor is a low attenuating yeast; great for low gravity beers to leave some malt flavor, but for anything over 4%, I recommend against it. However, this is low attenuation for Windsor. How much Maltodextrin? Any Lactose?

Obviously you had a bad yeast choice, but was there anything else you did that also caused you to have a sweet beer.

 

[bk0]

Well it was my 2nd kit ever and I didn't really understand how low Windsor attenuated. I put it on the cake to avoid having to make a starter. Then the fermenter exploded and I threw in a single packet of US-04 (probably didn't do much). After that I let it sit on the yeast for a solid four weeks.

I used the maltodextrin included in the kit--8oz.

At this point I'm thinking it's just a very bad yeast choice. On the upside, it does make good barbecue sauce as I found out this weekend!